Chada Katavi

Amazingly remote wilderness camp in Tanzania’s little-visited Katavi National Park

Just six tents in a million acres of National Park - that’s about a hundred thousand acres per visitor. Camps don’t come a lot more remote than this. If utter isolation in the wilds of Africa is what you’ve been looking for, Chada is the end of your journey. Katavi National Park, with its primeval mud rivers, huge golden floodplains, and whispering stands of palm trees, apparently receives fewer visitors in a year than the Serengeti does in a single day.

You fly into camp in a shared-charter Cessna, skimming low across vast herds of buffalo and rivers filled with hippo before bumping down on an airstrip surrounded by giraffe, antelope and elephant. The style of Chada is rugged and unpretentious, rather than being ostentatious and ‘designed’. The recently refurbished camp has comforts in abundance - feather pillows, ice cold drinks, steaming hot showers - but, as owner Roland Purcell pointed out , “they’re not really the point”.

Highs

• You'll rarely see another tourist (besides the 12 camp guests)
• Amazing views over golden floodplains
• Exotic picnics overlooking waterholes or bird-rich swamps
• Silverware, chilled wine and amazing travellers' tales at the dinner table
• Fly camping overnight in the midst of the bush
• Greater concentration of game than any other Tanzanian park - including Ngorongoro and Serengeti

Lows

• It's not haute luxe - simple tents, outside bathrooms and bucket showers
• Animals roam through camp regularly - it’s not a place for the very nervous
• Getting there means a long flight in a small plane - tiring, expensive and (unless you charter your own plane) only twice a week in line with Tailormade Tours' set itineraries